INDIANAPOLIS — Three months ago, the peacemakers program expanded rapidly going from two in the program to nearly 45 now. The group of interrupters, outreach workers and life coaches are tasked with being out in the community, stopping crime before it starts.
“Last weekend was a huge learning experience for my team,” program manager Shardae Hoskins said.
Last weekend marks one of the most violent the city has seen this year. The peacemakers said those 72-hours were a learning experience.
“Going into this weekend we’re a lot more prepared," Hoskins said. "I understand because I’ve been in this role a little while, but they are starting to understand how weekends, how temperatures, how all of these different variables play a role in violence."
Branden Ballard is an outreach worker with the peacemakers.
“It was a call to action — a divine call to action — of the people that’s really going to do something,” Ballard said.
Ballard has been on the job since January, when the program expanded.
"What I realized and what I learned is that it's just a lack of hope here in the city,” Ballard said.
But it is the peacemakers' mission to restore that loss hope. Hoskins said they are taking what they learned last weekend to use moving forward.
Both Hoskins and Ballard said it is going to take the entire community to come together and get involved to see an end to the city’s violence.
“In order for all of us to really make this thing work, we can be the captains of the team, the peacemakers, but everyone can be a peacemaker,” Ballard said.
Peacemakers will receive $37.5 million over the next three years through the Mayor’s Violence Reduction Plan.
-
Summer in the City program offers safe space for Indy youth
The city of Indianapolis and local nonprofit, Let Them Talk, are partnering together to offer a safe space for Indianapolis-area youth to prevent them from falling into the path of violence.
Man's body found in White River in downtown Indianapolis
A man's body was found in the White River near the Indiana University Indianapolis campus on Friday night after a jogger heard splashing and called 911.
TSA finds smoke grenade jammed inside peanut butter jar at Indy airport
TSA officers and explosive specialists caught a passenger attempting to travel with two smoke grenades, one of which was jammed into a full jar of peanut butter, in his checked bag.
A rainy weekend, high heat & humidity expected next week
A rainy Friday evening is ahead of us with the severe threat mainly out of the area in southern Indiana.
